Customers of automobile dealerships, appliance stores and other sellers of consumer items are skeptical to accept products having scratched, painted surfaces. It is well-known in the industry that a customer will accept an automobile with loose parts before that same customer would accept an automobile with scratches in the paint. Customers know that the car dealer will be able to repair loose parts, but they do not trust the dealer to fix scratches in painted surfaces. Customers know that the dealer might say that the customer is the one who caused the scratch, refusing to acknowledge that the car was delivered that way from the factory. Recent statistics show that nearly 10% of all cars arrive at the car dealerships with imperfect paint finishes, resulting in rejection by the customer. Other painted items such as refrigerators, gas barbecue grills, bicycles and other painted items experience the same problems. Many of these imperfections in the painted surfaces occur during final assembly of the item. For example, after a car body has been painted, various moldings and other edge-covering pieces must be fastened to the automobile. Those moldings are generally fastened with screws, hex-heads, bolts, and the like. These finely finished consumer items need to be protected during assembly. As the moldings are being fastened over the "raw" edges of the freshly painted surfaces, the assembly person generally uses a power tool to secure the molding to the painted part. For instance, as one can imagine, the assembly person has a hard time keeping a power drill on top of a screw while mounting a window molding onto a freshly painted car body. People who have ever used a power drill know how hard it is to keep the metal screw bit from "skipping" off the end of the screwhead. Once the screw bit skips off the screwhead, it can easily scratch the surface nearby the screwhead. Fresh paint in an automotive plant, which damages more easily, adds another dimension of problems to the assembler. Imagine trying to screw a windshield molding onto a freshly painted car body when using an all metal air driven screwdriver without scratching the paint. These scratches require repair, or the customer is likely to reject the product.
Generally, manufactured consumer items are assembled through the use of driving tool pieces and bits by air driven or electric motor driven driving units. The tool pieces and bits may include screw bits, slotted heads, phillips heads, square-recesses, Torx.TM., alan heads, hex recesses, hex-heads, sockets, bolts or any other type of tool piece. Such tool pieces must be easily and rapidly mountable into the motor driven unit, not only to provide for use of a variety of different tool bit sizes or types, but also to efficiently and rapidly replace broken or damaged bits when necessary. For example, automotive assembly usually requires replacement of tool bits on every shift.
Despite the many years during which power-driven bits have been used for assembly purposes, no one has introduced into the market an inexpensive and uncomplicated device which allows fasteners to be steadied while driven, as well as while avoiding marring the surface. Many devices have been disclosed for the purpose of centering or otherwise locating drill bits. See, e.g. German Patent DE 29 16 808 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,375,341; 3,097,891; 2,788,684; 3,320,832; 3,381,551; 3,339,435; and 3,907,452. I discovered one surface protective fastener tool in U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,133, although it rotates on the surface on ball bearings. My invention demonstrates a clear advantage over U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,133 in that it does not constantly contact the surface. However, if my invention does touch the surface, it virtually eliminates damage.
In most of the prior art devices typified above, spring loaded collars permit axial movement of the tool bit within the collar. The hollow collars through which the drill bits are inserted and withdrawn are generally used to provide a centering or locating action. These references allow full axial movement of the bit within the collar. While devices of the spring loaded type of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,907,452; 3,320,832; and 757,950 would be useful in preventing damage to a finish, these devices act to secure the collar frictionally against the surface while the tool bit rotates therein to turn the fastener into place. The prior art discovered by this inventor has not shown a collar that secures the tool bit and rotates with it, without touching the surface of the article. Furthermore, changing driving tool bits would be problematic in these devices.
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a collared tool piece or collars for tool pieces designed for use during assembly of consumer items requiring fasteners, especially threaded fasteners, while alleviating the possibility of damaging the finish of such articles. It would be further desirable to provide such a tool piece collar having the flexibility to provide for rapid tool piece bit changes. Such collared tool pieces or the collars for surrounding tool pieces are most advantageously disposable when damaged so that significant cost is not incurred.